NYU Stern MBA Students

GENERAL MANAGEMENT

Problem-solving. Profit-and-loss. Strategy. Employee development. That’s general management, the specialization that prepares MBAs to act as mini-CEOs for their business unit. From sales to finance to operations, it requires graduates to be versed in every aspect and level of an organization. While Harvard Business School has been dubbed the “West Point of Capitalism,” it is Stanford GSB graduates who earn the most in the field. And the margin wasn’t even all that close between the schools: $185,766 vs. $171,316. Technically, neither Stanford nor Harvard was the go-to business school for the highest earnings in General Management for 2025. That honor belonged to NYU Stern at $186,100 – a number that comes with an asterisk considering it is based on a sample of 8 graduates (compared to 55 at Stanford and 58 at Harvard). Even more, a NYU Stern grad collected a $400,000 base, further skewing the average. One surprise: Rochester Simon grads averaged $145,833 in starting base for General Management, higher than either Columbia Business School or Cornell Johnson among New York schools. The field also remains popular with employers with every Top 10 school reporting higher base pay for their 2025 graduates (including Northwestern Kellogg graduates, who enjoyed a $12K bump over the previous year’s class).

U.S. News Rank	School	2025 General Management Low	2024 General Management Low	2023 General Management Low	2025 General Management Average	2024 General Management Average	2023 General Management Average	2025 Management High	2024 General Management High	2023 General Management High
1	Stanford	NA	NA	$91,000	$185,766	$183,647	$179,622	NA	NA	$375,000
2	Wharton	$60,000	$57,000	$89,255	$162,762	$156,956	$163,858	$374,000	$273,000	$245,000
3	University of Chicago (Booth)	$90,000	$94,731	$100,000	$156,926	$152,910	$153,793	$245,000	$194,400	$300,000
4	Northwestern (Kellogg)	$67,123	$118,400	$85,000	$158,349	$146,348	$157,790	$245,000	$216,720	$220,000
4	Harvard	$75,000	$46,000	$75,000	$171,316	$162,520	$151,409	$275,000	$275,000	$240,000
6	MIT (Sloan)	$135,000	$135,000	$105,000	$169,727	$163,214	$152,667	$220,000	$200,000	$185,000
7	New York University (Stern)	$125,000	$125,000	$100,000	$186,100	$144,000	$136,413	$400,000	$170,000	$193,440
7	Columbia	$100,000	$45,026	$116,000	$143,527	$139,546	$142,667	$190,000	$240,000	$198,000
9	Dartmouth (Tuck)	NA	$113,000	$105,000	$145,416	$142,778	$145,853	NA	$175,000	$212,500
10	California-Berkeley (Haas)	$85,123	$108,000	$90,000	$158,960	$156,240	$156,565	$300,000	$201,276	$195,000
11	Yale SOM	$104,000	$80,000	$64,412	$135,954	$135,648	$139,860	$168,000	$195,000	$186,000
11	Virginia (Darden)	$66,000	$100,000	$76,466	$133,204	$142,197	$143,557	$200,000	$175,000	$200,000
13	Michigan (Ross)	$110,000	$105,000	$104,631	$144,200	$142,921	$141,094	$200,000	$182,100	$190,000
14	Duke (Fuqua)	$95,000	$105,000	$95,000	$138,847	$151,078	$148,994	$175,000	$250,000	$225,000
15	Cornell (Johnson)	$85,000	$79,050	$82,000	$137,409	$132,994	$141,053	$200,000	$165,000	$192,000
16	Carnegie Mellon (Tepper)	$54,000	$120,000	$90,000	$123,560	$140,853	$133,275	$165,000	$168,000	$155,000
16	Vanderbilt (Owen)	$130,000	$110,000	$120,000	$139,633	$132,733	$139,615	$155,000	$154,000	$180,000
18	Texas (McCombs)	$80,000	$65,000	$100,000	$124,286	$133,872	$130,781	$155,000	$185,000	$165,000
18	UCLA (Anderson)	$82,417	$80,000	$73,000	$150,753	$129,264	$139,654	$250,000	$150,000	$200,831
20	University of Washington (Foster)	$110,000	$130,000	$126,000	$140,542	$144,640	$146,559	$180,000	$160,000	$183,923
21	Indiana (Kelley)	$105,000	$95,000	$108,000	$125,867	$127,559	$132,333	$142,800	$155,000	$158,666
21	North Carolina (Kenan Flagler)	$59,400	$125,000	$125,000	$128,350	$140,088	$132,557	$165,000	$169,500	$143,000
23	Emory (Goizueta)	$90,000	$130,000	$31,200	$128,571	$140,000	$130,073	$150,000	$150,000	$175,000
23	Texas-Dallas (Jindal)	NA	$100,000	$90,000	NA	$125,933	$114,583	NA	$165,000	$130,000
25	USC (Marshall)	$100,000	NA	NA	$135,667	NA	NA	$220,000	NA	NA
25	Georgia (Terry)	NA	$75,000	$115,000	NA	$114,250	$132,450	NA	$135,000	$147,000
27	Georgia Tech (Scheller)	$118,000	$105,000	$110,000	$133,363	$119,613	$123,927	$157,000	$130,000	$155,000
27	Washington U. (Olin)	$85,000	$120,000	$97,034	$115,750	$131,829	$116,508	$150,000	$150,000	$149,000
29	Rice (Jones)	$95,000	$100,000	$133,000	$119,994	$127,500	$142,160	$140,000	$145,000	$150,000
29	Arizona State (Carey)	$130,000	$80,000	NA	$130,000	$98,333	NA	$130,000	$135,000	NA
31	Georgetown (McDonough)	$68,405	$51,366	$92,700	$119,823	$123,224	$142,150	$170,000	$172,500	$186,000
32	Ohio State (Fisher)	$118,000	$80,000	$78,000	$140,184	$120,000	$122,427	$180,000	$140,000	$142,800
32	Minnesota (Carlson)	$60,000	$60,000	$100,000	$112,500	$109,375	$120,333	$130,000	$150,000	$135,000
34	Notre Dame (Mendoza)	$116,100	$125,000	$90,000	$127,911	$131,250	$119,734	$140,000	$145,000	$130,000
34	Rochester (Simon)	$130,000	$110,000	$120,000	$145,833	$134,025	$123,500	$162,500	$145,000	$130,000
36	SMU (Cox)	$90,000	$98,000	NA	$122,200	$116,000	NA	$180,000	$125,000	NA
36	Texas A&M (Mays)	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA
38	Iowa State (Ivy)	$60,000	$58,240	NA	$80,953	$80,931	NA	$96,000	$110,240	NA
39	Florida (Warrington)	$127,500	$65,000	$120,000	$130,625	$119,000	$134,000	$135,000	$150,000	$150,000
39	BYU (Marriott)	$96,000	$75,000	$90,000	$116,438	$126,921	$124,462	$136,000	$175,000	$150,000
39	Utah (Eccles)	NA	$125,000	$62,500	NA	$131,875	$94,167	NA	$138,000	$140,000
39	University of Miami (Herbert)	NA	$66,560	NA	NA	$70,780	NA	NA	$75,000	NA
43	Michigan State (Broad)	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA
43	Maryland (Smith)	NA	NA	$60,000	NA	NA	$118,000	NA	NA	$145,000
43	Tennessee (Haslam)	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA
46	American University (Kogod)	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA
46	Boston U. (Questrom)	$95,000	$128,000	$65,000	$120,000	$135,000	$125,286	$155,000	$140,000	$170,000
48	Wisconsin	$50,000	NA	$120,000	$98,333	NA	$141,200	$125,000	NA	$171,000
48	Pittsburgh (Katz)	NA	NA	$100,000	NA	NA	$114,167	NA	NA	$128,000
48	Arkansas (Walton)	$50,000	NA	NA	$75,000	NA	NA	$90,000	NA	NA
51	UC Irvine (Merage)	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA

Next Page: Finance

© Copyright 2026 Poets & Quants. All rights reserved. This article may not be republished, rewritten or otherwise distributed without written permission. To reprint or license this article or any content from Poets & Quants, please submit your request HERE.